THE NEWS BRIEFING SERVICE

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An entertaining and thorough digest of the week’s most important (and often neglected) news stories, from one of the country’s leading independent political magazines. Our aim is to create a rich, entertaining, and thought-provoking newsletter that won't end up in the "spam" folder. The Current Affairs Biweekly News Briefing is an entertaining and thorough digest of the week’s most important news stories. Filled with links to interesting reading material and high-quality analysis of critical events, the News Briefing helps readers figure out what matters and navigate informational chaos. If you want to find out what you ought to know about, and what you’re missing, and hate having to muddle your way through clogged social media feeds and paywalled, ad-riddled news sites, we’re here to help you! The briefing is a paid service, so that we can pay writers to produce a truly stellar digest for you. Current Affairs is not for profit and, like all the rest of our work, the news briefing carries NO outside advertising and is entirely reader-supported. We hope you enjoy it!

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ARCHIVE OF PAST BRIEFINGS

December 20, 2024 ❧ Elon Musk shuts down the government, Amazon workers strike, and Mr. Beast goes tomb-raiding

Plus: AOC snubbed for Oversight, an atrocious defense spending bill, a climate victory in Montana, and glowing reindeer antlers

December 17, 2024 ❧ Privatizing the mail, a potential strike at Amazon, and RFK’s lawyer wants the polio vaccine gone

Plus: More mysterious drones, Australia arrests climate protesters, Trump settles a lawsuit, and rats wearing tiny backpacks

December 13, 2024 ❧ Biden’s pardons, insurance industry propaganda, and Tories vs. sandwiches

Plus: A “free market” Syria, a SpaceX company town, stock buybacks, and innovations in whale fashion

December 10, 2024 ❧ Luigi Mangione arrested, Assad falls in Syria, and the cops make crack

Plus: Trump jokes (?) about annexing Canada, Jonestown is back, Daniel Penny gets away with it, and the Tasseled Wobbegong is a weird shark

December 6, 2024 ❧ UnitedHealth’s CEO gets shot, the French government collapses, and RFK is at it again

Plus: Bad news for Elon Musk, ending capital punishment in Indiana, a special poem, and smelly bearcats

December 3, 2024 ❧ Joe pardons Hunter, martial law in South Korea, and prisoners burn themselves in protest

Plus: Two big labor strikes, a socialist in Georgia, Trump threatens the BRICS, and cats on horseback!

November 29, 2024 ❧ Ceasefire in Lebanon, Sheinbaum tangles with Trump, and a new Secretary of Labor

Plus: Another ICC prosecution, Irish nationalist rappers, stats on the failed Harris campaign, and symbolic turkeys

November 22, 2024 ❧ Land mines to Ukraine, Gaetz bows out as A.G., and a “potato cartel”

Plus: Justice for Botham Jean, The ICC indicts Netanyahu, cats vs. geese in Hawaii, and the Darth Vader Beetle

November 19, 2024 ❧ Trump appoints Dr. Oz to run Medicare, Ukraine strikes Russia with U.S. missiles, and huge NYPD salaries

Plus: Texas censors abortion websites, Bernie agrees with Trump on something, “woke sandwiches,” and World Anteater Day

November 15, 2024 ❧ Musk leads the DOGE, RFK “runs wild” on public health, and Israel ignores Biden’s aid deadline

Plus: Amazon union updates, victory for Abu Ghraib detainees, a “Rent is Too Damn High” protest, and a flock of goats in a tree

November 12, 2024 ❧ Little Marco Rubio, COP29 off to a bad start, and the Dems’ money woes

Plus: Putin’s “ministry of sex,” more disasters in Cuba, Anthony Weiner returns, and dogs can drive!

November 8, 2024 ❧ Trump’s first staff picks, Israel admits ethnic cleansing, and an app for boycotts

Plus: Bernie blasts the Dems, Nigeria frees protesters, more ballot measures, and monkeys on the loose!

November 6, 2024 ❧ Election Results Special

Trump has won, but not all is lost.

November 1, 2024 ❧ The U.S. Archives censor history, the GOP wants to crush Palestine activism, and catastrophic floods in Spain

Plus: A lawsuit over Abu Ghraib, Biden bites a child, Canadian postal workers prepare to strike, and a Hindu dog festival

October 29, 2024 ❧ Marijuana workers fight for a union, Ritchie Torres has awful donors, and Evo Morales almost gets assassinated

Plus: Trump’s racist rally, Bezos pulls strings at the Washington Post, and a frog with a strange weapon

October 25, 2024 ❧ A worrying poll on immigration, the BRICS summit ends, and California votes on prison slavery

Plus: Tucker Carlson says something creepy, the Boeing strike continues, and oarfish are basically sea serpents

October 22, 2024 ❧ Trump’s bizarre housing plans, Cuba’s blackouts, and the scam of “clean carbon”

Plus: Israeli killdozers, scurvy is back, Elon pays voters, the death of Gülen, and a “bootylicious” mouse

October 18, 2024 ❧ Betsy DeVos donates millions, Texas prisons ban a book, and Israelis plan to settle Gaza

Plus: The latest from the Pyongyang Times, India builds bullet trains, the death of Yahya Sinwar, and a very ambitious Egyptian dog

October 15, 2024 ❧ Kamala’s pitch to Black men, Southeast Asian workers on meth, and Colin Allred gets transphobic

Plus: New atrocities from Israel, Josh Hawley’s private jets, calling the cops on Burger King, and pikas puff up

October 11, 2024 ❧ Walz wants to abolish the Electoral College, Saudi Arabia at the UN, and America’s deadly factories

Plus: Netanyahu’s latest threat, the Chippendales unionize, trouble at the Internet Archive, and MANY RACCOONS.

October 8, 2024 ❧ Gaza one year later, Oklahoma's “Trump Bible” scam, and the GOP sabotages hurricane recovery

Plus: Hurricane Milton, MTG's weather conspiracy, Kamala embraces big business, Trump embraces eugenics, and some birds are poisonous.

October 4, 2024 ❧ War brewing in the Middle East, Vance and Walz debate, and Minnesota’s medical debt reforms

Plus: A tentative deal in the port strike, a “weird” typhoon hits Taiwan, and NYC rats are on birth control

October 1, 2024 ❧ Harris “underwater” in Michigan?, Britain quits coal, and dockworkers on strike

Plus: Hurricane Helene, more horrible Newsom vetoes, a secret island in the Indian Ocean, and the “Pablo Escobar of Beavers”

September 27, 2024 ❧ Blinken lied about Gaza aid, Florida bans sex ed, and Eric Adams gets indicted

Plus: Marcellus Williams' last message, an uprising on Martinique, the J.D. Vance Files, and a very large penguin

September 24, 2024 ❧ Labor protests in India, RFK Jr.’s sexting scandal, and Texas cops' scary surveillance tech

Plus: Marcellus Williams on death row, AMLO blames the U.S. for cartel violence, and octopi have wild size differences

September 20, 2024 ❧ Israel’s terror attacks, U.S. healthcare in bad shape, and Mark Robinson calls himself a “Black Nazi”

Plus: Kentucky bans conversion therapy, a “historic parking lot” blocks a food bank, and an amazing bipedal bear

September 17, 2024 ❧ J.D. Vance’s racist lies, China’s green energy boom, and the NYPD kills four people on the subway

Plus: Trump dodges another assassin, a strike brewing at the New York Times, and EXTREMELY small lizards

September 13, 2024 ❧ Rupert Murdoch’s latest scheme, bankers dying on the job, and Israel kills a U.S. citizen

Plus: Trump’s bizarre debate performance, updates on abortion rights around the states, and sharks love jazz!

September 10, 2024 ❧ Kamala finally has policies, Louisiana's prison rodeo, and Macron puts the French far-right in power

Plus: The GOP spreads malicious anti-migrant lies, Jill Stein kicked off the ballot in Nevada, an anti-landlord activist runs for office in Australia, and Burmese communists protect elephants

September 6, 2024 ❧ Half of U.S. elections have one candidate, socialists on trial in Florida, and India threatens Wikipedia

Plus: Russia dumps truckloads of money into right-wing YouTube, another blow to the Internet Archive, Santa Maduro, and Soviet space tortoises!

September 3, 2024 ❧ Labor news spectacular!

The latest from workers’ struggles in the US, UK, Namibia, Sri Lanka, China, Israel-Palestine, and Australia - plus songs, poems, and MUCH MORE!

August 30, 2024 ❧ Kamala wants to build the wall, huge reforms in Mexico, and the ACLU sues over campus Palestine protests

Plus: New data on police violence, RFK abducts a dead whale, and a “suspicious incident”

August 27, 2024 ❧ Biden’s phony fossil-fuel numbers, Kentucky prisoners hack their tablets, and a “right to disconnect”

Plus: Rent control in Mexico City, Israel destroys a historic mosque, and armadillos always have EXACTLY four babies

August 23, 2024 ❧ The DNC snubs Palestinian speakers, Ron DeSantis loses big, and the Ukraine war spills into Africa

Plus: RFK Jr. drops out, a landlord tries to extort a dead woman, and Swedish crows collect cigarette butts

August 20, 2024 ❧ Labor & Palestine at the DNC, Missouri funds anti-abortion groups, and Mexico's “dirty war”

Plus: Remembering Phil Donahue, Purdue Pharma, Perdue chicken, a parliament fight in Turkey, and a bird with a massive mouth

August 16, 2024 ❧ Kamala's price gouging plan, middlemen killing Alabama pharmacies, and new elections in Venezuela?

Plus: The wonders and horrors of “Grok,” Liz Truss gets ambushed with lettuce, and frogs and tarantulas are friends

August 13, 2024 ❧ Extreme heat kills 47,000, “No Tax on Tips,” and Greg Abbott’s horrible new hospital policy

Plus: Ukraine enters Russia, J.D. Vance does drag, and you can now buy "Seagull Insurance"

August 9, 2024 ❧ Kamala scolds Gaza protesters, a national tenants' union, and trans rights in Nepal

Plus: How to fight Wall Street with a cello, LA's homeless deaths, free diapers in Tennessee, AIPAC buys another primary, and a house fit for a mouse.

August 6, 2024 ❧ Tim Walz gets the VP nod, racist riots in the UK, and climate denial in Congress

Plus: A bear cub, a bear market, landlords make the heat crisis worse, a police “surveillance tower,” and some truly excellent Chinese animal names

August 2, 2024 ❧ Harris abandons progressive policies, the Amazon Labor Union gets new leadership, and the IMF is meddling with Egypt again

Plus: Climate protests in Uruguay, Elon Musk wants to fistfight Maduro, and... can chimps talk?

July 30, 2024 ❧ New Israeli war crimes, Kamala's VP search, and climate protestors take on J.D. Vance

Plus: New York bans graphic school-shooter training, Venezuela's disputed election results, and the sharks are on coke now

July 26, 2024 ❧ Police murder Sonya Massey, J.D. Vance attacks the "childless," and Netanyahu comes to town

Plus: South Africa's new climate law, an important request from the Starbucks workers' union, and swimming armadillos

July 23, 2024 ❧ Heat wave voters, Biden bows out, Anti-whaling activist arrested

Plus: Des Moines cracks down on the homeless, Netanyahu goes to Washington, U.K. votes on child poverty, and beekeeping dogs!

July 19, 2024 ❧ GOP vs. Weather, LA Sheriffs Gangs, and Biden's limp rent control policy

Plus: Samsung on strike, New reports that Biden may drop out, proposed Supreme Court reforms, and more wombat butt facts!

July 16, 2024 ❧ Trump gets shot, J.D. Vance runs for VP, and police body cams are a fraud

Plus: A Kenyan beekeeper fights deforestation, China holds its big economic meeting, and leeches can jump now. Oh dear.

July 12, 2024 ❧ Furries vs. fascism, Eric Adams' $1m trash can, and private equity may be a bubble

Plus: New York may be competitive in 2024, Trump may have a "secretary of retribution," new reporting on Gaza, and incredible swimming lions!

July 9, 2024 ❧ Victory for French leftists, the Gaza death toll may be under-reported, and LA's homelessness failure

Plus: You can buy bullets in a vending machine now, Iran gets a new president, and there are MANY kinds of "fancy pigeon."

July 5, 2024 ❧ The Biden train wreck continues, the Tories get routed, and Jeff Landry is cool with AI deep fakes

Plus: Some 4th of July wisdom, the Heritage Foundation gets scary, and the bees are back in town!

July 2, 2024 ❧ The Supreme Court gives presidents immunity, Gavin Newsom gets "tough on crime," and the French far-right scores another win

Plus: India's draconian new penal code, Nigel Farage becomes a sex symbol, and what's wrong with alley cats anyway?

June 28, 2024 ❧ Biden's debate debacle, Bowman felled by dirty politics, and another coup attempt in Bolivia

Plus: Flipping off the cops, Kenya in revolt, some more mostly awful Supreme Court rulings, and how much fish can cats lift?

June 25, 2024 ❧ Julian Assange goes free, SCOTUS on trans rights, and a big golf protest

Plus: The end of InfoWars, water is woke now, and Przewalski's Horse makes a triumphant return

June 21, 2024 ❧ The IRS lets rich people off the hook, Italian Pride reclaims "frociaggine," and Louisiana puts the Ten Commandments in school

Plus: Norfolk Southern's toxic cloud spread across the land, Europe kept Sudanese refugees in danger, an Ohio man throws Filth Cans, and the search for the world's gayest animal!

June 18, 2024 ❧ The U.S. military's secret anti-vax campaign, Trump's awful idea about tariffs, and South Africa's new government

Plus: John Fetterman drives like a maniac, Florida Republicans ban a book about book bans, and clownfish change their gender.

June 14, 2024 ❧ SCOTUS rules on abortion and unions, Tennessee's prison labor scandal, and Wallace & Gromit get political

Plus: New York might ban masking, Hakeem Jefferies declares war on NY socialists, the EU punishes Hungary's cruelty to migrants, and an antelope with a floppy nose!

June 11, 2024 ❧ Leonard Peltier's chance at freedom, California's free grocery store, and worrying gains for the European far right

Plus: New York scraps traffic reform, the UAE supports violence in Sudan, Friedrich Engels rolls in his grave, and spiders are mostly harmless.

June 7, 2024 ❧ Bird Flu, Biden stops asylum, and the TRUTH about the Epoch Times

Plus: Texas builds its own stock exchange, more hulking police vehicles, how the U.S. right is pushing hate in Africa, and giant pangolins are back!

Read more >>>

June 4, 2024 ❧ China's diabetes cure, elections in India and Mexico, and Mr. Netanyahu goes to Washington

Plus: Alabama is hiding death-penalty records, North Korea sends "filth balloons" flying, and Corgis are the new greyhounds

May 31, 2024 ❧ Convict Trump, the Collapsed Gaza Aid Pier, and Workers vs. Dollar General

Plus: Americans clamor for climate accountability, South Africa holds its elections, Biden considering a dangerous escalation between Ukraine and Russia, and chickens are on the rampage!

May 24, 2024 ❧ Outrageous CEO Pay, spying on protesters, and Florida's "Freedom Summer"

Plus: What would Trump's deportation plan actually look like?, the Supreme Court upholds racial gerrymandering, microplastics in your balls, and a bird you ought to know about.

Read more >>>

May 21, 2024 ❧ The U.S. accuses a Chinese family of spying, Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC, and Assange wins in court

Plus: Adorable polar bears, a crippling cheese addiction, prison labor in the food system, and Louisiana schools somehow get even worse

Read more >>>

May 17, 2024 ❧ The feds interrogate a historian for his Palestine views, union busting in Alabama, and the truth about "woke" colleges

Plus: Clearing up the confusion about the Gaza death toll, Tony Blinken's embarrassing jam session, some boring headlines from foreign newspapers, and thieving foxes

Read more >>>

May 14, 2024 ❧ Virtual DNC, Germans storm a Tesla factory, and Republicans for child marriage

Plus: NYPD cracks down on smoke shops, Milei's anti-LGBTQ policies, a bill to send protesters to Gaza, robo-dating, and a micro mouse

Read more >>>

The archive of briefings up to May 10, 2024 can be found on Substack.

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THE NEWS BRIEFING SERVICE

The news delivered to your inbox every Tuesday and Friday

ARCHIVE OF PAST BRIEFINGS

December 20, 2024 ❧ Elon Musk shuts down the government, Amazon workers strike, and Mr. Beast goes tomb-raiding

December 17, 2024 ❧ Privatizing the mail, a potential strike at Amazon, and RFK’s lawyer wants the polio vaccine gone

December 13, 2024 ❧ Biden’s pardons, insurance industry propaganda, and Tories vs. sandwiches

December 10, 2024 ❧ Luigi Mangione arrested, Assad falls in Syria, and the cops make crack

December 6, 2024 ❧ UnitedHealth’s CEO gets shot, the French government collapses, and RFK is at it again

December 3, 2024 ❧ Joe pardons Hunter, martial law in South Korea, and prisoners burn themselves in protest

November 29, 2024 ❧ Ceasefire in Lebanon, Sheinbaum tangles with Trump, and a new Secretary of Labor

November 22, 2024 ❧ Land mines to Ukraine, Gaetz bows out as A.G., and a “potato cartel”

November 19, 2024 ❧ Trump appoints Dr. Oz to run Medicare, Ukraine strikes Russia with U.S. missiles, and huge NYPD salaries

November 15, 2024 ❧ Musk leads the DOGE, RFK “runs wild” on public health, and Israel ignores Biden’s aid deadline

November 12, 2024 ❧ Little Marco Rubio, COP29 off to a bad start, and the Dems’ money woes

November 8, 2024 ❧ Trump’s first staff picks, Israel admits ethnic cleansing, and an app for boycotts

November 6, 2024 ❧ Election Results Special

November 1, 2024 ❧ The U.S. Archives censor history, the GOP wants to crush Palestine activism, and catastrophic floods in Spain

October 29, 2024 ❧ Marijuana workers fight for a union, Ritchie Torres has awful donors, and Evo Morales almost gets assassinated

October 25, 2024 ❧ A worrying poll on immigration, the BRICS summit ends, and California votes on prison slavery

October 22, 2024 ❧ Trump’s bizarre housing plans, Cuba’s blackouts, and the scam of “clean carbon”

October 18, 2024 ❧ Betsy DeVos donates millions, Texas prisons ban a book, and Israelis plan to settle Gaza

October 15, 2024 ❧ Kamala’s pitch to Black men, Southeast Asian workers on meth, and Colin Allred gets transphobic

October 11, 2024 ❧ Walz wants to abolish the Electoral College, Saudi Arabia at the UN, and America’s deadly factories

October 8, 2024 ❧ Gaza one year later, Oklahoma's “Trump Bible” scam, and the GOP sabotages hurricane recovery

October 4, 2024 ❧ War brewing in the Middle East, Vance and Walz debate, and Minnesota’s medical debt reforms

October 1, 2024 ❧ Harris “underwater” in Michigan?, Britain quits coal, and dockworkers on strike

September 27, 2024 ❧ Blinken lied about Gaza aid, Florida bans sex ed, and Eric Adams gets indicted

September 24, 2024 ❧ Labor protests in India, RFK Jr.’s sexting scandal, and Texas cops' scary surveillance tech

September 20, 2024 ❧ Israel’s terror attacks, U.S. healthcare in bad shape, and Mark Robinson calls himself a “Black Nazi”

September 17, 2024 ❧ J.D. Vance’s racist lies, China’s green energy boom, and the NYPD kills four people on the subway

September 13, 2024 ❧ Rupert Murdoch’s latest scheme, bankers dying on the job, and Israel kills a U.S. citizen

September 10, 2024 ❧ Kamala finally has policies, Louisiana's prison rodeo, and Macron puts the French far-right in power

September 6, 2024 ❧ Half of U.S. elections have one candidate, socialists on trial in Florida, and India threatens Wikipedia

September 3, 2024 ❧ Labor news spectacular!

August 30, 2024 ❧ Kamala wants to build the wall, huge reforms in Mexico, and the ACLU sues over campus Palestine protests

August 27, 2024 ❧ Biden’s phony fossil-fuel numbers, Kentucky prisoners hack their tablets, and a “right to disconnect”

August 23, 2024 ❧ The DNC snubs Palestinian speakers, Ron DeSantis loses big, and the Ukraine war spills into Africa

August 20, 2024 ❧ Labor & Palestine at the DNC, Missouri funds anti-abortion groups, and Mexico's “dirty war”

August 16, 2024 ❧ Kamala's price gouging plan, middlemen killing Alabama pharmacies, and new elections in Venezuela?

August 13, 2024 ❧ Extreme heat kills 47,000, “No Tax on Tips,” and Greg Abbott’s horrible new hospital policy

August 9, 2024 ❧ Kamala scolds Gaza protesters, a national tenants' union, and trans rights in Nepal

August 6, 2024 ❧ Tim Walz gets the VP nod, racist riots in the UK, and climate denial in Congress

August 2, 2024 ❧ Harris abandons progressive policies, the Amazon Labor Union gets new leadership, and the IMF is meddling with Egypt again

July 30, 2024 ❧ New Israeli war crimes, Kamala's VP search, and climate protestors take on J.D. Vance

July 26, 2024 ❧ Police murder Sonya Massey, J.D. Vance attacks the "childless," and Netanyahu comes to town

July 23, 2024 ❧ Heat wave voters, Biden bows out, Anti-whaling activist arrested

July 19, 2024 ❧ GOP vs. Weather, LA Sheriffs Gangs, and Biden's limp rent control policy

July 16, 2024 ❧ Trump gets shot, J.D. Vance runs for VP, and police body cams are a fraud

July 12, 2024 ❧ Furries vs. fascism, Eric Adams' $1m trash can, and private equity may be a bubble

July 9, 2024 ❧ Victory for French leftists, the Gaza death toll may be under-reported, and LA's homelessness failure

July 5, 2024 ❧ The Biden train wreck continues, the Tories get routed, and Jeff Landry is cool with AI deep fakes

July 2, 2024 ❧ The Supreme Court gives presidents immunity, Gavin Newsom gets "tough on crime," and the French far-right scores another win

June 28, 2024 ❧ Biden's debate debacle, Bowman felled by dirty politics, and another coup attempt in Bolivia

June 25, 2024 ❧ Julian Assange goes free, SCOTUS on trans rights, and a big golf protest

June 21, 2024 ❧ The IRS lets rich people off the hook, Italian Pride reclaims "frociaggine," and Louisiana puts the Ten Commandments in school

June 18, 2024 ❧ The U.S. military's secret anti-vax campaign, Trump's awful idea about tariffs, and South Africa's new government

June 14, 2024 ❧ SCOTUS rules on abortion and unions, Tennessee's prison labor scandal, and Wallace & Gromit get political

June 11, 2024 ❧ Leonard Peltier's chance at freedom, California's free grocery store, and worrying gains for the European far right

June 7, 2024 ❧ Bird Flu, Biden stops asylum, and the TRUTH about the Epoch Times

June 4, 2024 ❧ China's diabetes cure, elections in India and Mexico, and Mr. Netanyahu goes to Washington

May 31, 2024 ❧ Convict Trump, the Collapsed Gaza Aid Pier, and Workers vs. Dollar General

May 24, 2024 ❧ Outrageous CEO Pay, spying on protesters, and Florida's "Freedom Summer"

May 21, 2024 ❧ The U.S. accuses a Chinese family of spying, Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC, and Assange wins in court

May 17, 2024 ❧ The feds interrogate a historian for his Palestine views, union busting in Alabama, and the truth about "woke" colleges

May 14, 2024 ❧ Virtual DNC, Germans storm a Tesla factory, and Republicans for child marriage